Why is Wonder Woman being so poorly marketed?

Wonder Woman, Hollywood's first superheroine movie in over a decade, is off to a rocky start. Earlier this week, Warner Bros and DC Entertainment were accused by comic book fans of under-promoting Wonder Woman, after comparing the marketing efforts behind Patty Jenkins's upcoming film against past DC Comics movies like Suicide Squad and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Even though Wonder Woman has starred in a number of TV shows, it took more than 70 years for her to finally make it onto the big screen. And yet, instead of making a bigger deal out of this breakthrough moment in comic book history, Warner Bros's marketing department has apparently decided to run a quieter promotional campaign than usual for a potential comic book franchise film. While Warner Bros might see Wonder Woman as a tentpole, its marketing department is envisioning something more like a pup tent.

Last week, Uproxx took a look at Warner Bros's official YouTube channel and noticed that Wonder Woman only had three videos published so far, even though it's set to premiere in less than a month. In comparison, Justice League, Warner Bros's movie, which comes out in November, had six clips already posted. (After the article was published, the studio added a few more Wonder Woman videos into the playlist.) The piece also analyzed the marketing strategy for WB's 2016 superhero film Suicide Squad and found that a month before its premiere, that movie already had a total of 30 videos on the studio's official channel, multiple TV spots, and an advanced ticket buying campaign.

And it gets worse. The little promotion Wonder Womanhas had is laughably out of touch. Aside from partnering up with Dr. Pepper soda, Warner Bros decided that the next-best product tie-in for its first female superhero franchise would be with diet food. That's right, if you spend $15 on ThinkThin protein bars, you'll get a $5 discount on movie tickets—because, really, what's more empowering to women than selling them a product that literally tells them to “think thin”?

On the other hand, as a stealth Twitter user pointed out, Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad promotional material made it onto cereal boxes, Turkish Airlines, Doritos, Amazon Echo, Chrysler cars, watches, batteries, and exclusive VR experiences brought to you by Samsung. Come on Hollywood, is it not enough that women are already getting the shaft in terms of pay? Now even our superheroines have to deal with a gender-marketing gap, too?